Star Tribune
Member of Highs gang given nearly 20-year sentence in federal racketeering case
A member of a prominent Minneapolis street gang received a sentence of nearly 20 years in federal prison Wednesday as part of the government’s ongoing campaign targeting gang, gun and drug crimes in the Twin Cities.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel sentenced 32-year-old Montez Brown to more than 19-1/2 years before issuing a scathing rebuke of the decades-long violence she described as plaguing north Minneapolis and surrounding communities.
“This is the end of the line,” Brasel said, pointing out that Brown refused to turn away from gang activity after two previous state prison terms. “Prison is the only tool that I have and being lenient here will deter no one.”
Brown, whose street name is “Tez Blood,” pleaded guilty last year to participating in a racketeering conspiracy and distributing fentanyl. His sentence Wednesday came nearly a year after he and dozens of others were indicted on charges brought under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
The RICO Act, first rolled out in the 1970s to go after organized crime families, is being used by U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger to link dozens of alleged members of prominent Minneapolis street gangs such as the rival Highs and Lows of north Minneapolis to murders, robberies, drug trafficking and gun crimes.
Prosecutors say the Highs street gang has “attempted to hijack much of north Minneapolis” for more than 20 years, rendering public spaces into open-air drug markets and preying on vulnerable youths. Brasel handed down the same sentence sought by prosecutors, who argued that Brown was “an entrenched member of the Highs, and his conduct has made his name synonymous with the Highs criminal enterprise.”
According to court filings, the Highs began laying claim to areas of north Minneapolis in 2004 and have since dominated a large swath of the community. They are engaged in a violent rivalry with the Lows gang; each gang’s name stems from their locations north or south of W. Broadway Avenue in Minneapolis.
In memos filed with the court, prosecutors wrote that Brown “explicitly engaged in attempted murder, distributed massive amounts of drugs, and regularly controlled numerous firearms — including a switch — along with tens of thousands of dollars in gang proceeds.”
Frederick Goetz, Brown’s attorney, asked for a prison term between 11 and 12 years. He said Brown had sought to better himself in the year since being jailed in this case, and pointed to a crowded courtroom of family members and supporters whom Goetz said would be there to assist Brown upon his release from incarceration.
Law enforcement officials arrested Brown in April 2023 and seized 9,700 fentanyl pills, thousands of dollars in cash and two firearms — including one outfitted with a machine gun conversion device, or switch, and an extended magazine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Wesley said that after Brown was arrested, he phoned relatives to try to coordinate getting rid of the fentanyl and drug proceeds left behind at a family member’s home. Before Brown’s sentencing on Wednesday, Wesley billed him as a “model Highs member.”
“He started at a young age and absolutely nothing has deterred him from criminal activity,” Wesley said.
Wesley said Brown sold counterfeit fentanyl pills as early as 2017 and “as far as I’m aware he is the first Highs member to do that and he is one of the first people to bring that dangerous drug to Minnesota.”
Brown was said to be a highly-respected Highs member who encouraged fellow gang members and handed out guns to them one evening in 2021, as the Highs retaliated against the killing of one of their own by the Lows.
Brown tearfully apologized to the court and to his eight children before being sentenced on Wednesday. He described being raised in a house without a father present and said he looked to the streets for a “proper role model.”
“I know I’m going to prison for a long time,” Brown said. “Once I do get out I would like to … reach out to young kids in my community and tell them my experience — that no matter what, the streets will fail you.”
The University of Minnesota has postponed a scheduled Tuesday night lecture from infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci after pro-Palestinian protests that included some protesters barricading Morrill Hall the day before.
On Monday night, several hundred pro-Palestinian protesters gathered at the building, which houses the Minneapolis campus’ administrative offices, as Students for a Democratic Society used tied-up patio furniture to form giant barricades blocking the building’s large front windows and its entrances. The protesters demanded the U divest from companies with ties to Israel. At least 11 of the protesters were arrested.
The university decided to postpone Fauci’s lecture set for Tuesday night because of “unexpected and complicated incidents” over the past day, university spokesman Jake Rickersaid in an email.
“Given the importance of this lecture and the unexpected and complicated incidents that occurred on campus in the past 24 hours, University officials determined it best to reschedule to ensure a great experience for attendees and our University community,” Ricker said.
All tickets for the lecture will be voided and information about the rescheduled date will be posted later, the university said in an online post about the postponement. Pre-paid parking will be automatically refunded, the university added.
Additional pro-Palestinian protests took place Tuesday afternoon at the university in front of Coffman Memorial Union. The protests prompted university officials to temporarily close down at least a dozen buildings in a Tuesday alert. Those included: Coffman Union, Weisman Museum, Hasselmo Hall, Ford Hall, Vincent Murphy Hall, Tate Lab, Morrill Hall, Northrop Auditorium, Johnston Hall, Walter Library, Smith Hall, and Kolthoff Hall. All other East Bank campus buildings were switched to keycard access only, according to the alert.
An anti-Fauci rally had also been planned by conservative group Action 4 Liberty to coincide with the lecture at the university, but that was moved after the lecture was canceled.
Star Tribune
Aunt IDs 3-year-old who was fatally shot in Minneapolis home, speaks about what happened
A close relative on Tuesday identified the 3-year-old boy who was fatally shot this week in his family’s northeast Minneapolis apartment a day earlier.
Woods said police have told the family that Jajuan got ahold of the gun and it went off.
“Someone left a loaded gun [in the home,” said Woods, who has started an online fundraiser for her sister, Charlotte Williams. “He got ahold of it thinking it was a toy.”
Woods said her nephew, who went by Junior, “loved trucks and dinosaurs. He was just so silly and goofy. He was a momma’s boy.”
Jajuan suffered a gunshot wound to the top of the head, a source with knowledge of the incident told the Star Tribune. Paramedics rushed the toddler to HCMC, where he died a short time later.
Woods said she did not know who owned the gun.
Police spokesman Trevor Folke said Tuesday evening there have been no arrests and had no update to share in the “active and ongoing investigation.”
Bergman is championing efforts to boost literacy and invest in early childhood programming, and getting there, she said, requires financial sustainability, and that may mean closings and mergers. She attended last week’s finance committee meeting — as she’s done on a regular basis — and described the mention of “opportunity” as another rosy way of avoiding hard truths.
The district is spread too thin, she said. Some schools could take more students. Yet in others, class sizes are huge and caseloads so large that educators can’t build relationships with students and families, she said.
“I just fundamentally believe, and it’s been one of the objectives of my campaign, to be someone out in the community talking about this moment, listening to reactions, and listening for the places where families could get on board with the possibility of their beloved school having to close,” she said.
A way to get there, Bergman said, is by consolidating buildings, and in turn, expanding programming — perhaps not far from the school left behind.
Callahan argues that the mere mention of closings is causing families to leave the district: “This is not something that should be talked about so flippantly,” she said.
She said she would entertain the idea only if there also are plans to stabilize and recruit students, plus answers to three questions: How much money is being saved by closing a building? How many students will be retained if the school closes? And how many new students have to enroll to keep it open?
